OFF: "Space Rock"

[K Henderson]

Hey...

>Hey, folks. This is sorta "OFF", but not necessarily in that HW are involved
>directly and in many cases indirectly. It seemed like when I first joined
>boc-l had more discussion of space-rock in general...now that I've somewhat
>caught up w/the scene in general, it seems to have waned. Anyway, maybe
>this'll spark some convo...

Yeah, things have gotten a little 'technical' around here lately.  Gigdates
of the past, tabs, who's doing what when, tourdates, CD releases delayed
(again)....all that's fine and dandy and useful info (I contribute plenty
meself).  However, might be nice to have some 'theoretical' discussions
around here once in awhile.  I helped spur one on over at spacerockers to a
smaller audience, so many of you prolly missed it.

>If you have any comments re: this compilation, "what I should have added" or
>what I shouldn't have, praise, flames, whatever...
>
>the ultimate quintessential space rock:
>
>Tape 1, Side 1:
>
>1.Hawkwind--Earth Calling/Born to Go (Space Ritual)
>2.Spacious Mind--The Cave Song (Organic Mind Solution)
>3.Ashra Tempel/T. Leary--Powerdrive/Right Hand Lover (Seven-Up)
>4.F/i--Star Spot (Helioscopium)
>5.Farflung--Solar Electrique/Open Your Mouth (25000 ft. p/Second)
>6.Pressurehed--Explaining the Unexplained (Explaining the Unexplained)
>
>Tape 1, Side 2:
>
>1.Quarkspace--Air (Live Orion)
>2.Gong--A Sprinkling of Clouds (Est Mort)
>3.Melting Euphoria--Harbor of Infinity (Upon the Solar Winds)
>4.Amon Duul 2--Sleepwalker's Timeless Bridge (Wolf City)
>5.ST-37--Night Jetz (Space-Age)
>6.Nik Turner--Opa Loka 2000 (Past or Future?)
>7.Sun Dial--Plains of Nazca (Other Way Out)
>8.Darxtar--Darker (Darker)
>9.Hawkwind--Life Form (PXR 5)
>
>Tape 2, Side 1:
>
>1.Spacehead--Mechanoid Dream/Hail the Messiahs/Dark Star (In Space We Trust)
>2.Gong--Flying Teapot (Live Etc.)
>3.Darxtar--Dark Daze (Daybreak)
>4.Amon Duul 2--Wieder Wind am Ende einer Strasse (Wolf City)
>5.PXR 1--Spirit of the Age (The Elf and the Hawk)
>6.Word of Life--Sunrise (To Dust)
>
>Tape 2, Side 2:
>
>1.Tribe of Cro--Ritual Meditation (Potlach)
>2.Hawkwind--Space is Deep (Doremi Fasol Latido)
>3.Melting Euphoria--Astral Nemesis (Upon the Solar Winds)
>4.Guru Guru--Space Ship (Hinten)
>5.Can--Spoon (Ege Bamyasi)
>6.Architectural Metaphor--Brainticket (Odysseum Galacti)
>
>A few regrets: no Amon Duul 2 "Yeti", no Ozrix, no more F/i ("Space Station"
>would have been perfect), not enough Hawkwind :), no Spac. Mind
>"Intergalactic Love Machine 2", no poetry/fx tracks, maybe Krel deserved a
>spot, etc...but even w/2 90-minute tapes, there were space limitations,
>representation limitations, etc!

Hmmm...well I often work on the basis of 'quotas' and sub-genre-izing to the
extreme.  Mainly just to get a handle on so many bloody discs in my
possession.  And I think you've cut out a few that deserve 'inclusion.'  And
as you say, you were pretty narrow in this collection.  Nothing wrong with
that...this is all great stuff.  Other than Potlach (did that CD finally
come out?) and Gong Est Mort (I coulda bought the vinyl at one point years
ago, but am still waiting for a CD), I could have made this same compilation.

I'm very surprised *not* to see any of the improvisational works of bands
like Escapade, SubArachnoid Space, Speaker\Cranker, Mushroom, Mirza....all
kindred spirits I believe and a major 'new' movement in space-psych music.
You play this stuff on your fabulous radio show every week...so where is it?  :)

And there's a little less of 'free festy' psych than I would have thought.
The two Melting Euphoria's are a good surrogate, but I would have to have
given some time to the UK side of things, Delerium bands mainly.  Ship of
Fools, Dead Flowers, Soma, all those folks.  And a Porky Tree tune or two on
the side.

I would put a Korai Orom track from '1997' on any space rock compilation, as
it's a new subgenre all by itself IMHO.

I would stretch the boundary and throw on a 'stoner' tune by Orange Goblin
(for Tim!) ;) or mebbe On Trial at least.  Or from the new Spacious Mind.

And then some dreamy shoegazery-space stuff like the first Verve album, or
SIANspheric (from Hamilton, ON), or Aspera Ad Astra, or 7% Solution, or
DarkStar's Gracedelica, or old Levitation.

You've got a good sample of the old krautrock stuff (though I would have
picked different tracks from each band) and plenty of great classic space
rock and blanga stuff.  And some of the fuzzy space-punk of
Chrome/P-hed/ST37.  The Sundial is a good choice in lieu of the garagey
neo-psych of Woronzow et al., but maybe one more of these.

Debatable things are droners (Bardo Pond, Charalambides, Magnog, Windy &
Carl, etc.), neo-krautrock/post-rock (Fuxa, American Analog Set, Tortoise,
Stereolab, Karamasov...though either Circle or Ausgang are a must!), pure
ambient (I would choose a single Cluster/Harmonia track at least), and then
something like Godspeed you Black Emperor! (usu. lumped in with 'post-rock'
but all-together unique).  Slow Riot is amazing...but a single piece uses up
half a side of your tape...so only an excerpt I guess.  Loses a lot there
though.

I think you need at least three tapes! :)

Grakkl (FAA)